


The Long Grift Job

by Dhae



Category: Leverage
Genre: Episode: s05e15 The Long Goodbye Job, Fluff, M/M, Slash, alternative ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 12:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13077069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dhae/pseuds/Dhae
Summary: Nathan Ford has been running a long con on Sophie, and it's time to end it. This takes us right up to the last scene of the Long Goodbye - and then it takes a turn for the unforgivably schmoopy.





	The Long Grift Job

**Author's Note:**

> There is nothing in this that contradicts canon, save the last few minutes of Long Goodbye. In fact, were you to watch Leverage again with this ending in mind, I promise you it will be quite a different experience. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Nate.” Eliot’s gruff voice held him back when the others walked away from yet another successful job.

 

“What?” Nate asked, eyebrows raised.

 

“Look, man. I’ve waited, okay. Four years I’ve waited. But this has got to end. Soon.”

 

Nathan thrust his chin forward. “Are you losing faith in me, Eliot? In what I’m doing?”

 

Eliot ground his teeth in frustration. “You know I’m not. Look. You decide you want Sophie, want to call this thing off, I’ll do it. Walk away. No hard feelings. But one way or another, you’ve got to call this.”

 

They stood too close, now, facing off. Nathan blinked first. Pulled back. Turned aside.

 

“I will,” he promised. “Soon.”

 

****************************

 

The game was over. The Black Book was theirs. Nate had pulled off the grift of a lifetime, and there was really very little left to say or do.

 

As always, it was Hardison that found something to say anyway, to sum it up.

 

“There it is, man. The Holy Grail.”

 

“A thousand bad guys,” Parker added, quiet but gleeful.

 

Eliot cut to the core of why they’d retrieved it. “A lot of revenge in there. Just waiting on a righteous man to take a swing.” He turned his head and glanced at Nate.

 

Nate would be lying if he didn’t admit that hearing Eliot so faithfully imply he was righteous gave him a thrill. But it wasn’t time for levity. It was time to end the con of a lifetime, once and for all.

 

“That man’s not going to be me.”

 

His words sank like stones into water. Just as he had planned and expected. He glanced briefly at Sophie, then met Eliot’s eyes and held them.

 

“We’re out. Done.”

 

Sophie did a double-take. “We?”

 

Nate glanced back at her before he turned away, fumbling forth a remote to turn down the lights. Parker and Hardison turned their chairs to watch the show, but Eliot got to his feet, quiet and catlike.

 

“Well.” Nate said. “That depends on what… on what you say next, of course.”

 

Sophie smiled, like a cat with a fresh caught bird, but tried to hide it behind decorous confusion. She didn’t speak.

 

“I’ve been waiting. For four years. Hoping you’d give me something. But…”

 

Sophie stiffened, getting an inkling that this wasn’t going where she expected it to go.

 

“It wasn’t going to be, was it? You couldn’t decide which version of me you wanted, so you kept dragging it out. Kept pulling me along.

 

“You looked at me, and you saw a mark to be manipulated, conned and eventually acquired when you figured out which version of me you wanted.”

 

Sophie was now looking poleaxed, and Parker and Hardison was both gaping.

 

“But here’s the thing. By the time you figured out you wanted the white knight, you were so lost in that fantasy you couldn’t see straight. You forgot that we’ve all changed. And while you were busy running a con on the white knight; the naive innocent, who played at being the mastermind…

 

“Well. While you did that, the black king ran a con on you.”

 

Sophie, no longer playing, grasped behind her for a place to sit.  Eliot smoothly provided his own, leaning back against the table once she was sitting down.

 

“It was a mask, Sophie. And I gave you every chance to unmask me. But they do say none are so blind as those who would not see, and I guess they’re right about that.

 

“You wanted the innocent. But it’s been a long time since I was innocent. Luckily, there’s someone who’s just fine with me as I am… Eliot?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“How about it?”

 

“Now? You want to do this now?”

 

“Can you think of a better time?”

 

“Oh, hell, Nate. You sure don’t do things by halves, do you?” But Eliot was already moving, pushing off from the table and coming to stand close to Nate. Who grinned, fished out a small jeweler’s box, and got down on one knee.

 

“What are you? Wait, what?” Sophie was, after all, one of the world’s top grifters, and her brain was catching up fast.

 

Eliot just seemed stunned by this turn of events.

 

“You’ve waited four years. You’ve kept my secrets, protected me and done everything I’ve asked. I’ve just got one more request.” Nate glanced around one last time, getting the feel of the others.

 

Parker had grabbed onto Hardison with one hand and covered her mouth with the other. Hardison looked like a beached fish - Parker like she was about to squeal out loud.

 

Sophie was beginning to look angry, now.

 

But it was Eliot, who didn’t look like he knew how to feel, whose eyes were beginning to shine with unshed tears, who caught his undivided attention.

 

“Will you marry me, Eliot?” He popped open the box to reveal a rough gold ring with some rather large diamonds inset.

 

Eliot reached out a hand towards the box, blinking rapidly when he realized that it shook, and stopped it halfway.

 

Then the first tear overflowed down his cheek, and caught him by surprise. His shocked inhalation sounded more like a sob.

 

“Nate…” he eventually managed, soft and disbelieving.

 

Nate discovered that his own eyes weren’t exactly dry, but he could hardly breathe anyway. The anxiety was slowly choking the life out of him.

 

“Parker?” Eliot cried out, turning helplessly towards the thief who’d become family over the years.

 

“You say yes, you idiot!” Parker laughed, but even she had tears in her eyes.

 

“Listen.” Hardison had finally found his voice again, gruff though it was. “I’m all for this, man, don’t doubt that for a second. But you know we’re in Oregon, right? You guys can’t get married in Oregon.”

 

“Washington,” Sophie breathed, sounding as if her brain had finally caught up and conceded defeat.

 

“Just across the river,” Nate nodded. “Please, Eliot?”

 

The hitter shook himself, as if he’d just woken up from an unexpected nap. “Yes. Goddammit, yes, Nate, of course I’ll marry you!” And then Nate found himself standing, folded into Eliot’s arms, and that was probably a good thing, because he couldn’t feel his legs. Couldn’t really feel anything but Eliot’s body, pressed against his, and Eliot’s lips, pressed against his, and Eliot’s tongue…

 

“Oh, hey, I’m happy for you and all,” Hardison grumbled, “but would you mind not making out right in front of me?” And then he yelped loudly, as Parker punched his shoulder.

 

“Hey! This is a happy ending. Don’t ruin it!”

 

And Eliot was laughing and so, Nate discovered, was he.


End file.
